Dental technician launches one-stop denture shop

on 25 January 2010

A dental technician has set up a one-stop-shop for patients in need of dentures.

Mark Maley qualified as one of the first to work directly with patients to create dentures.

A-Line Dental Services, on Hylton Enterprise Park, supplies dentists across the North East with false teeth.

But A-Line’s owner, Colin Caster, says he can now cut out the middle man – and expects customers to come from across the country to get their dentures in Sunderland.

Mr Caster said people who needed dentures were often very self-conscious and being able to talk directly with a technician, to create their perfect set, would make an often embarrassing problem much easier.

‘People think it’s only those in their 60s and 70s that need false dentures, but there are a lot of people in their 30s and 40s who get in a situation where they’ve got no teeth and they feel needing dentures is an embarrassment,’ said Mr Caster.

‘We’ve now got a facility where patients can talk to the technician and get the exact teeth that they want.’

‘There is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and mistakes do get made,’ he said.

‘We get people ringing up all the time asking if they can come straight to us.’

Mr Caster said his firm – which employs 20 people – has its own surgery where patients can be fitted for their dentures.

Mr Maley is the first of a handful of clinical dental technicians to hold the new qualification, and the others to take the course were all from Scotland. He hopes to train the rest of his staff in the new skills.